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Hi there,
Are there any benchmarking tests out there that are the most indicative of how houdini will perform running larger simulations? I have read that single core high frequency matters though I also here some people pointing to the new Threadrippers which are mellow in terms of frequency but have high core counts.
Looking for a high sample size, objective test that will relate to houdini large scale simulations. Not mantra, not small sims.
I wanted to add my current setup to add context. I have an i7 6950x OC'd to 4.2 ghz ( watercooled) with 128gb of 2666 ram. This runs fairly well though I see setups sometimes process faster than my setup.
This is all part of me trying to understand everything I can about how houdini manages hardware and how you can tune both hardware and software to each other. I do realize that at a certain point this leaves the single workstation and jumps to a very different process of splitting sims up onto a server to process extremely huge sims. I am more so interested in how to min/max the single workstation.
Thanks in advance!

Can someone please give me an indepth explanation as to why the CPU vs GPU sims look different?
I have noticed when making a fire sim, GPU gives a bit more streaky and jagged sim (better licks) than a CPU sim which tends to be a bit more billowy with more 'shrooms' or rounder shapes in general.
Sadly GPU crashes on any large scale sims yet I really like the look.
How can I get CPU sims to look as streaky and jagged as GPU?
Any tricks to stop a GPU sim from crashing?
Cheers!

Hey Guys i have a workstation with a Xeon E5-2660 Processor (lots of cores but only 2.2 GHz per core)
How can i know what nodes are multi-threaded and what are single-threaded in Houdini? i wanna know where things start to get slow because of my cpu.
I tried to google it but didn't find sth really useful.

Hi everyone,
I am working with our IT department to built up a desktop for heavily FX work(mostly water and pyro simulations). Below are three options that we are considering about it, I am looking for any comments or recommendation on different configuration.
Thank you

I am about to buy some new hardware for a workstation that primarily are going to be used for working in Houdini.
I am thinking of putting a Ryzen Threadripper 1950x in it, for the high amount of cores, and the relative low price in relation to some other Xeon CPU's.
All my rendering is done in Octane, and the CPU will primarily be used for simulations.
Are the 1950x, the right choice, for Houdini work?. For what I know, does Houdini support multithreading in almost every aspect, but does the high core count make up for a lower core speed. The alternative is a I9-7900X, where the cores are faster, but the number of cores are lower.
Are there any other CPU alternatives in the price range (or a bit more expensive) that would give better performance?

I have a geometry that has a clay material with a texture and it is animated during 45 thousand frames.
My computer is 2 x XEON 2,4GHz E560 and i have 8 GTX1080ti and 16 x 8GB Ram
Mantra is not using GPU for rendering of course but the % usage in CPU is low while rendering why? what can i do to accelerate rendering? How can i use GPU rendering ?
thanks
Martin

Hi
I have 8 GTX 1080ti
and i can simulate pyro in fast way with openCL activated
however if i render out in mantra linux, it only use low percentage of my 6 dual core i7 processors.
why? is it possibile to increase this cpu % or use Gpu for rendering?

Hi everyone ,
When do ı simulate in houdini about pyro,fluid,grain, I disappoited during simulation or at cache time. :/ For this reason , i ask to build pc for houdini dynamics.
But I don't know requirements for system . Processor option may be amd or intel. Max budget 3000$ 3500$.
In addition ,
System ?
Cpu?
Motherboard?
Min Ram?
Min GPU ?
Min Core ?
be grateful for your helpful.

This operator allows you to run an OpenCL kernel as part of your SOP network. Depending on the GPU, some operators can be orders of magnitude faster than even VEX.
In this case the OpenCL code is 144 times faster than VEX on GTX 970.

Is there any way how I can limit Houdini RAM and CPU usage while writing out simulations with ROP outputdriver?
My system crashed few times already while writing out whitewater particles. and I had to start all over again.
In Adobe software there's simple setting in preferences - how much RAM to leave for other software to use.
In houdini what I found is that I can bump down cache size on DOP, and that is basically it.
I'm new to houdini.
Also I'm using save to disk in background. so it should use less ram
Now simulation is 85% done. so gonna render everything I hope.
What I did is I unchecked write cache al all on DOP net and whitewater DOP, don't know if this is the most efficient way to render.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you
My system is not so bad, so I should be able to write out large simulations.
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790k (4.0GHz) 8MB Cache
32GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (4 x 8GB)
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970

Hi Guys, I'm about to build a new workstation and I have to luck to know someone who is willing to sell me 2 E5 2696 v3 quite cheap. As you might know, the E5 2696 is the OEM version of the E5 2699. It has the same specs (18 cores/36threads @ 2,3GHz). Thing is, I read a lot on the internet but couldn't find too much about those high core count machines when it comes to Houdini (I'm doing all kinds of sims in Houdini). Some people said high frequency is better than core count most of the time because of single threaded nodes/processes in Houdini. They say, only rendering benefits a lot from more cores. I'd like to know if someone here has experience with everyday use of Xeons in the 2GHz range (scattering many points, mountain sop on heavy geometry, etc). Are those tasks noticable slow? Do many cores help that much with simulations? My other choice is the E5 2687W v3 because it has 3,1GHz (10 cores/20threads @ 3,1GHz). Any help appreciated.

Hello!
I haven't seen a resource that benchmarks the calculation speed of graphics cards in Houdini so I thought I'd post this. I hope that people can participate and post their scores using their gaming/workstation graphics cards so other people can get a rough idea of the performance of each graphics card in Houdini before they decide to buy/upgrade anything. This should only take a few minutes -
1. Start Houdini
2. Use the following units under your Hip File Options -
Unit Length - 1
Unit Mass - 1
3. Frame Range 1-240 @ 24fps
4. Add a sphere at origin
5. Goto the Pyro FX shelf tool and select Explosion. Select the sphere.
6. Disable Cache Simulation in your DOP and use the following settings -
Pyro Container Settings
Division size - 0.075
Size - 7.5, 10, 7.5
Center - 0, 4, 0
Resize Container Settings
Padding 0.3
Subtract Threshold 0.2
9. Select the Pyrosolver. In the Advanced tab, turn on OpenCL
10. Save the file and restart your computer
11. Use a stopwatch or http://www.online-stopwatch.com/ to keep track of the time
12. Open the file, start the sim and the stopwatch timer
13. Record the time after 240 frames.
14. Run the same sim again but with OpenCL disabled
15. Post the exact times with your PC Specs, Houdini version and OS in the following format (using my results as an example) -
Houdini Version - 14.0.201.13
OS - Windows 7 Ultimate x64
GFX - Zotac 770GTX Amp! Edition (2GB) / Driver - 347.09
Time - 1:37.222
CPU - Intel i7 3770K @ stock
Time - 2:09.503
Other - ASRock z77 Pro3 Motherboard, 32 GB Corsair Vengeance RAM
Thank you!
PS - I've attached a hip file with the above settings using Houdini 14 that you can run right away. Thanks for the suggestion, Skybar.
OpenCL_TestFile.hipnc

Hey everybody,
I'm looking for a new computer and I'm now standing with a dilemma.
Should I choose the Xeon 6-core 2.1ghz or a i7 with a higher clockspeed?
The thing is, that if I choose to go with the Xeon, I'll choose a workstation motherboard, so that I can expand with 1 more CPU later on.
Also what is the most important components for quick renders, and simulations?
CPU,GPU or RAM?
Thanks a bunch in advance!
Cheers, Jonas Jørgensen

I am simulating a lot of particles. Why is Houdini not using all threads to the full extent. Is this normal, is this as much multi-threading as I can get out of houdini. I have 4 real threads and its not even using one of them fully (which would be 25%).
Just wondering.

Hello All,
I am new to these forums and this is my first post. I am almost as new to Houdini as I am to these forums, so I am just learning Houdini using Apprentice. Houdini works just fine on my current computer, but it is pretty outdated at this point. It was built back in 2007! So I'm looking at upgrading with a completely new build.
I've done a good amount of research related to a computer build that would work pretty well with Houdini and based on that I've put together a build. I would like to get some thoughts as to how this build looks and any suggestions and/or recommendations for what to change. The build is linked here:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/lhI9
I do have some questions related to some of the info that I've found in my research:
- Is 64 GB of RAM overkill for someone just starting to learn Houdini? I'm thinking of dropping the extra set of 32 GB to save some money. Although $30 off seems like it is a good deal...
- I am most likely going to remove the second GTX 680 from the build to save money. How valueable is it to have that second GPU? If I keep (or add later) the second GPU, should the two GPUs be connected via their multi-GPU connector (SLI for nVidia)? Or should the 2 cards be left unconnected? I've never used a multi-GPU setup so I'm not 100% how to configure them.
- I've read about different combinations of SSDs and HDDs. What is a recommended setup? In the build you'll see that I've included 1 SSD. Is it worthwhile (value wise) to get a second SSD and have them in Raid 0? I already have 2 1TB 7200 rpm drives in my current computer that I can use. How should I utilize those in this new build? I read a mention of setting up the SSD as a local cache and using regular HDDs for files. Does Houdini use the OS disk as a default local cache, or does that need to be configured? Any suggestions and insight here is very helpful!
- This is kind of a random question...I've read that nVidia cards are better for the viewport while AMD cards perform better with OpenCL. What about installing an nVidia card as the main GPU for viewport and installing an AMD card as a second GPU. Then set Houdini to use the AMD card as the OpenCL card? Does this even make sense or is it just a silly idea? What would the advantages and disadvantages be?
- I am very much in need of a new mouse and keyboard. You'll see the ones I selected in the build. What input devices do you guys use? Which mouse and keyboard?
- Displays. I currently own a BenQ 241W and use a very old Dell 2005FPW as a second monitor. I'd like to upgrade my displays, though I'm not sure what to do yet: get a second 24" or upgrade to a 27"? Which displays and display setups are suggested for Houdini work?
Many thanks for your time and suggestions. I look forward to learning much about Houdini from all the awesome info and people in this forum. Hopefully I'll be able to give back one day.
Cheers.

I am about to build my first workstation which will be Houdini orientated, I did an extensive research on hardware and I though it may be useful to share it for people who may be in the same place. Also I would like to submit a couple of question which I didn't manage to answer myself.
First of all, lets start with my build. Because currently I am not in a place to spend a large amount of money in a super workstation, I have designed two different builds, the first one "budget workstation" is going to use few hardware which I am currently own and it will build on top of those and keeping in mind the second build "ultimate workstation" as an update which may come next year. Why not waiting until have all the money? Because my current pc it's so slow, which is impossible to do anything with houdini.
here is the hardware of the two builds:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZAVK_vq2cCobbnTsV2ryMokLOaKSBBpK48gX8xX8H74/edit
Questions:
1. What is best combination of nvidia? (one for OpenCL and the other for display)
2. Tesla C2075 and GTX 680 can be in the same setup?
3. Is it true that is better to go with the best (Noctua) air cooling than a cheap (Hydro Series™ H60) water cooling?
4. Any suggestion?
Please share your experience on the listed hardware or your own setups.
cheers